Chapter 7: The Storm(3)

MISTERLP

That was... Ruby? Her hair was a mess, the corners of her mouth were

cut, and the clothing that was made of her scales was damaged. In short,

she was beaten up. It was clear she was subject to an intense lynching.

Naden glanced once at Ruby, then turned back and started shouting

again. "Give me a break! I never liked the way Ruby picked fights with

me, but are you people who were insulting me behind my back any

better?! So, what?! Now that it's not convenient for you anymore, you're

gonna push all the blame off on Ruby and string her up?! Are you

stupid?!"

It was like a dam had broken. The emotions that had built up inside

Naden all this time gushed forth. The dark, black feelings she kept bottled

up inside her, unable to speak them.

"W-We just..."

There were dragons who tried to talk back, but they were ultimately

silenced by Naden's tirade.

"It's a little late for that! You mock me all this time as a worm, a

flightless dragon, and now you want to push all your troubles onto me?!

You've got wings, don't you?! You're better than me, right?! Then how

about you go and do something about this yourselves!"

"Naden..." With a sad tone in her voice, Pai started walking over

toward her friend, but I stopped her. Now was the time for Naden to let it

all out. I felt... it was something Naden needed to do to move on with her

life.

"You made all sorts of fun at me! Now that there's something only I

can do, you're gonna turn around and ask me for a favor? Don't give me

that! Listen, I hate the atmosphere here in the Star Dragon Mountain

Range! With the exception of Pai and Lady Tiamat, I hate the dragons,

too! Why should I have to do anything for you?! I don't care one bit if this

place gets wrecked!"

Naden glared at the dragons who were at a loss for words, and stomped

her feet.

"You talked about me behind my back all the time! 'She's a worm,'

'She ought to learn her place,' and more! What gives you the right to come

to me for anything? And what is my place, anyway? Maybe you want to

try putting your heads down on the ground and begging? Maybe it'll

change my mind?"

Ah... She'd spewed too much bile, and now she'd gotten into a weird

mood. Naden probably didn't even realize what she was saying anymore.

Sheesh...

"Come on, we have to hurry..." Pai said.

"Okay, let's leave it at that."

I put a hand on Naden's shoulder and stopped her.

◇ ◇ ◇

Souma grabbed my shoulder with a serious look on his face. "I think

you've said enough. If you go any further, you'll just be devaluing

yourself, Naden."

What? Don't get in my way. I brushed off Souma's hand, then angrily

rounded on him.

"Huh?! What's my value, anyway?! That I can fly, even without

wings?"

"No."

"My value is that I can fly in the storm? 'So go fly,' is that it?"

"No."

"Well, what is it supposed to be, then?!"

"Your heart isn't fixated on the value of things. That's what makes you

valuable, Naden!"

Souma placed his hands on my shoulders again, and said that firmly.

He was gripping me tightly, so it kind of hurt. That pain... brought me

back to my senses.

"Your ability to see the good in things, no matter what anyone else says

about them; that's your charm, Naden! If it's fun, you'll read romance

novels from the world outside, and even watch Jewel Voice Broadcasts

from the Empire. You're even able to get along with a foreigner like me,

who suddenly showed up out of nowhere, like it's no big deal. You don't

care what other people think. You do what you want to do. That ordinary,

free spirit of yours is what I love about you. It wasn't any other dragon that

I decided I wanted to form a contract with, it was you, Naden!"

I fell silent.

Hearing him say he loved me made my head rapidly cool. No, the

opposite. It boiled over. My face was hot. My mouth bobbed open and

closed like a fish gasping for air, and no words came out.

Souma kept going as if it didn't matter. "If you go trampling on other

people's personalities just because your positions have changed, you'll

become what you hate most. I don't want to see you end up like that."

"S-Souma..."

"Besides, there's no need for you to endure things on your own

anymore."

The next thing I noticed, Liscia and Aisha were at our side, too.

"Naden, you're a part of the family now, so rely on us when you need

to," Liscia said.

"Indeed," Aisha agreed. "I'm not smart like His Majesty and the others,

so I do my best with my combat abilities. If anyone ever hurts you, Madam

Naden, let me cut them down with this blade."

Liscia had a wry smile on her face, and Aisha was saying dangerous

things with a hearty laugh.

Oh... I get it. I had so many people now, not just Pai, who would see

my pain as their own. I was sure I would see their pain as my pain, too.

I turned to Souma and the others with a bow. "Sorry. I was kind of

getting riled up there."

"Haha, well, I'm sure you've got to get it out of your system once in a

while," he said. "Besides, we were mad, too. Let's twist the knife a bit."

With that, Souma went to stand in front of the dragons who were

watching at a distance. Huh? What was he planning to do?

"I am King Souma Kazuya of the Kingdom of Friedonia," Souma

suddenly named himself.

There was a buzz from the dragons.

"D-Did he say king...?!"

"And of Friedonia?! That big country to the east?!"

It was surprising that humans had come here before the Contract

Ceremony, but on top of that, he said he wasn't from the Nothung Dragon

Knight Kingdom, but was the King of Friedonia.

Even Pai, who knew Souma, cried out, "Wait, Kazuma is Souma? And

a king, too?" blinking in surprise.

In a kingly voice, Souma continued. "On this occasion, I, Souma

Kazuya, have come to form a contract with Naden under the guidance of

Madam Tiamat. This is also a means of dealing with the 'storm.' In other

words, Naden Delal will be becoming one of the queens of Friedonia."

Souma stared down at the dragons. "So, if any of you mess with Naden

after this, be ready for it to become a diplomatic incident."

When he intimidated the dragons like that, Souma looked less like the

king of a country, and more like a demon king. He said he'd twist the

knife, but this was too big to be a knife. It was like a stake, and he was

pounding it through them, into the ground, to make sure they stayed there

and got the point. As proof of that, the dragons were frozen stiff, unable to

say a word.

In truth, he was just a frail human who they could have blown away

with a mere breath, but Souma dominated the room. It gave me a new

sense of how big the country was that Souma carried on his shoulders.

But Souma didn't normally act like he wanted to use that sort of

authority. I mean, he even went by a fake name when we first met. If

Souma was relying on his authority to intimidate them... was he really,

really mad?

On my behalf, because they mocked me... No, maybe I'm being too

conceited.

While I was thinking about him like that, I saw Ruby, beaten up and

lying on her side, out of the corner of my eye. I slowly walked over to her.

I looked down at Ruby, who was lying on the ground, her breathing

ragged. It was the opposite of all those times she looked down at me from

the sky.

I asked her a question.

"You awake, stupid Ruby?"

"Yes, I'm awake, dumb Naden."

Beaten up or not, it seemed she was still in good enough shape to

respond to attitude with attitude. Even in this state, Ruby was Ruby.

Maybe because I just vented, I had no spite left for her. I ought to still have

plenty to complain about with her, but I just didn't care right now.

"I'd say the dragons overdid it, but you deserved half of this," I told

her.

"Hmph...!"

"I mean, couldn't you have gotten off with less than this? Like, if you

said I ran away."

"If I did that... I'd be the same as them," Ruby said indignantly. "All

they ever do is talk about people behind their backs. I don't want to be like

that. If I think something, I'm going to say it right to your face."

"That's been nothing but a nuisance for me," I snapped.

Well, since it gave me someone I could actually fight, it might have

been better than the other dragons who kept their comments behind my

back. When I got mad, I was able to hit her with an electric shock, after all.

If she kept it quiet, I wouldn't have been able to do that.

Ruby let out a little sigh. "...You've got it so good. You look like that,

but you could still fly. And you're marrying a king? Just how special are

you? I couldn't be more jealous."

Jealous... It looked like what Souma said was true. Even so, I didn't

know how to react to that. After all...

"So many times, I wished I could have been born an ordinary dragon

like you, Ruby."

If I'd been an ordinary dragon, I would have never been put through

any of that. If I'd been normal like Ruby. But Ruby now said she envied

how I was special.

Ordinary and special. If only our positions were reversed... But it

probably wasn't that simple. If I was ordinary, I'd have wanted to be

special, and if Ruby was special, she'd have wanted to be ordinary. People

longed to be the things they weren't, after all.

"Naden... Things just didn't go well for either of us," Ruby said.

"That's life, Ruby."

We both smiled wryly.

Honestly... things never went well.

"Naden, come with us," Souma called to me. It looked like it was time

to plan out how we'd deal with the storm.

"They're calling me," I told Ruby.

"Yeah, yeah. Go wherever you want. Whether it's to the clouds, or to

the kingdom."

Leaving Ruby behind me with her usual spite, I ran over to Souma.

◇ ◇ ◇

Oh, geez... This is the worst... I thought miserably.

My whole body ached. Still beaten and blue, I lay on my back looking

upward.

I, Ruby, had been rebuked for picking fights with Naden, and the

dragons all ganged up to attack me. Even as dragons went, I felt like I was

pretty strong, but the odds were too stacked against me.

The dragons attacking me said horrible things about Naden behind her

back, but now that they needed her power, they turned around and

condemned me.

"You deserved half of this." Naden's words from earlier came back to

mind.

Yeesh, I know that, okay?

Naden's husband-to-be was right. I was jealous of her. I'd always been

jealous of Naden, who was born special, in the Star Dragon Mountain

Range, a place where our system of values was stiff and inflexible and

individuality tended to get buried. I wanted something special, something

the other dragons didn't have, like Naden...

"So many times, I wished I could have been born an ordinary dragon

like you, Ruby."

Things really don't work out the way you want them to. In the end, we

were both just wishing for what we didn't have.

I looked up to the ceiling that was so high I couldn't see it. The tears

from the corners of my eyes streamed toward my ears. Oh, geez, where did

I go wrong...?

"Yeah, I can't just see this as someone else's problem." Suddenly, there

was a voice from above my head. When I looked up, a well-muscled

young man with red hair was looking down at me. "When I see how you

messed up, got beaten black and blue, and left lying here, it reminds me of

how I was, not so long ago. I messed up with Souma, too, and my old man

gave me a thrashing for it."

While he said that, the red-haired young man scratched his head. Then,

crouching down to take a look at my face as I lay facing upward, he

laughed.

"Ah... This may be none of my business, but one piece of advice: You

can't change the fact you screwed up. There's no undoing it."